Jules Verne’s Journey to the Center of the Earth
One of the “fathers of science fiction” through the worldwide popularity of the fifty four volumes which comprise his Voyages extraordinaires, it is no surprise that cinema has revisited the work of Jules Verne many times over, among the film adaptations Georges Méliès’ Le Voyage dans la Lune (A Trip to the Moon) in 1902 and Disney’s glorious 1954 production of Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea based upon Vingt mille lieues sous les mers: Tour du monde sous-marin.
Starring James Mason, Kirk Douglas and Peter Lorre, that film grossed almost six times its production budget and went on to win two Academy Awards for best art direction and best special effects, factors which would have influenced 20th Century Fox in their decision to adapt Verne’s 1864 novel Voyage au centre de la Terre, released as Journey to the Center of the Earth and also starring Mason in the lead role of Professor Oliver Lindenbrook of the University of Edinburgh, who on the occasion of his knighthood receives a most unusual gift.
An anomalous sample of volcanic rock, its density indicates an Icelandic origin yet it was found in the Mediterranean, and Lindenbrook is immediately fascinated and determined to explain the incongruity, yet it is the serendipity of an explosive accident in the laboratory which cracks the mystery and reveals a man-made object inside the rock bearing the inscription of the legendary explorer Arne Saknussemm who believed of another world deep within the Earth.
Lindenbrook’s colleagues scoff at him as they did Saknussemm until he disappeared three hundred years before, but the Professor is clear in his goals: “The ultimate aim of all science is to penetrate the unknown. Do you realise we know less about the Earth we live on than about the stars and galaxies of outer space? The greatest mystery is right here, right under our feet.”
So begins the journey of Professor Lindenbrook and his student Alec McEwan (Pat Boone) to retrace the steps of Arne Saknussemm, descending into the crater of the extinct volcano Snæfellsjökull in Iceland in the company of Carla Göteborg (Arlene Dahl) whose husband was murdered by Lindenbrook’s treachorous rival Count Saknussemm (Thayer David), their guide Hans Bjelke (Pétur Ronson) and his pet duck Gertrud.
Restored for Eureka Classics and available on Blu-ray for the first time in the UK, from the grand opening in Edinburgh to the inevitable subterranean descent the film looks magnificent, a huge production overseen by director Henry Levin in which the sets, the matte shots and the compositing are exemplary, though much like Lindenbrook’s rock the script co-written by producer Charles Brackett with Walter Reisch contains anomalies.
A science fiction adventure film as a vehicle for the then hugely popular singer and entertainer Pat Boone as a romantic lead is not one which immediately suggests itself, especially from a translated literary source which is notably bereft of female characters, thus the creation of Frau Göteborg and Lindenbrook’s niece Jenny (Diane Baker, who provides commentary alongside film historians Steven C Smith and Nick Redman), McEwan’s fiance who waits for his return to Scotland.
Despite the commercial considerations of frequent musical interludes and interruptions of light comedy to break what would otherwise be a dense production the structure of the film is sound, producing an oddity and proposing an explanation which leads to a greater discovery, although much of the extrapolating and theorising would more honestly be regarded as wild and unsupported speculation.
Verne’s novel largely an intellectual exploration of realms unknown, additional drama is introduced through the dastardly actions of Count Saknussemm which actually serves to slow the first act when it most needs pace, and setting a precedent for Richard Attenborough in Jurassic Park Pat Boone’s Scottish accent is abandoned almost as swiftly as scientific literacy only to be rediscovered later.
With Bernard Herrmann’s score recalling his work eight years earlier on The Day the Earth Stood Still, between the location work in Edinburgh and Carlsbad Caverns National Park in New Mexico and the astonishing sets it is apparent that no expense was spared other than in the effort to source authentic dinosaurs, rhinoceros iguanas with glued on fins failing to convince either viewer or those concerned for animal welfare, their cheerful sprightly gait lacking the requisite weight and menace as they rampage across the miniature sets.
With Mason clearly enjoying himself and not taking the script too seriously, Dahl’s Frau Göteborg is not given the credit she deserves, a smart, capable woman who is unafraid to speak her mind yet is treated like a fool by Professor Lindenbrook, yet atypically for the period it is Boone and former Olympian athlete Ronson who are obliged to disrobe for the cameras.
Also featuring a new interview with critic Kim Newman appraising the film and discussing its production and, in the first pressings, a booklet reprinting a selection of archive posters from around the world from the original release, Journey to the Center of the Earth is undeniably a film of its time but its charm has aged well and certainly better than more recent version of the story, capturing the spirit of Verne which has kept his work alive over a century past his death.
Jules Verne’s Journey to the Center of the Earth is available now on Blu-ray from Eureka Video
